Local dealer told me I must do my own trade-in appraisal. Said he would give me an appraisal form to fill out if I decide to purchase a new travel trailer. He looked up the NADA retail price of my trade-in, but said they would not appraise it themselves, but leave that up to me. Something doesn't seem right. Has anyone else had a similar experience?
DIY trade in appraisal?
- Thread starter TonyB
- Start date
Ray LeTourneau
Senior Member - Past Moderator
I've done this for the E-bay purchase of my current truck. The Houston dealer sent me a form to fill out. I returned the form via E-mail and he returned his offer for my trade in. I was pleased with the offer. The conditions were that once I arrived for the transaction, either party had the option to back out if either were not happy with anything.
TravelTiger
Founding Texas-West Chapter Leaders-Retired
When we traded our NorthTrail in on the ElkRidge, we were dealing at an RV show. The sales rep asked me a series of questions about our coach... Things like: has it been smoked in, pets, had any damage, delamination, are appliances working, any water leaks, condition of tires, any upgrades, etc.
Then they gave us a trade-in value, sight unseen. When we went to the dealer a few days later to do our PDI on the new rig and sign the papers, they did a walk-around our trailer and looked inside, but did not do an extensive evaluation. The value already agreed upon wasn't changed.
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Then they gave us a trade-in value, sight unseen. When we went to the dealer a few days later to do our PDI on the new rig and sign the papers, they did a walk-around our trailer and looked inside, but did not do an extensive evaluation. The value already agreed upon wasn't changed.
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Garypowell
Well-known member
Same thing happened to us. It was a series of 20 questions at the dealership as our rig was 30 miles away. I think it is Bourne out of the fact that no one wants to drag their unit to a bunch of dealerships. Some could be hundreds of miles away. In fact we have never bought a rig at our local dealership.
The other thing is people are usually harder on themselves than the truth. When I had employees (back in the good days) I would give my employees the same form I was going to fill out and ask them to bring it to the meeting in a week. Almost always I had the joy of "talking them up" to a better grade.
And then there is the fact that if you have lied......they change the deal.
The other thing is people are usually harder on themselves than the truth. When I had employees (back in the good days) I would give my employees the same form I was going to fill out and ask them to bring it to the meeting in a week. Almost always I had the joy of "talking them up" to a better grade.
And then there is the fact that if you have lied......they change the deal.
aztrailerguy
Member
I'm in the process of trading my Trailer for a Heartland. They asked me several questions about the condition of my trailer. They gave me a value sight unseen.
danemayer
Well-known member
When we bought our new Elkridge two years ago, I told the dealer that I would pay "X" for the 5'r and wanted "Y" for the trade-in. I told them that if they would not give me "Y" then they would have to take the difference off the price for "X". Told them that I didn't really care how they did it, just that it came up to the same end price. They figured out how to do it.
